Florist Next Door
by Pleepers
Summary: A florist and a tattoo artist? FRIENDS? Not exactly the pair you would expect but nothing you can do about it t(-.-)t have fun reading! Btw this is NaruSasu and a future lemon so yea...BEWARE HOMOPHOBES AND YOUNG CHILDREN
1. Two Unlikely Neighbors

**NEW STORY! PLZ DON'T KILL ME FOR NOT UPDATING! My grades are terrible at the moment and I'm just really stressed about it because if I don't get them up, I can't go to Japan during the summer. Math is so hard and I hate physics. I'm actually typing this in physics class XD anyway plz feed me reviews! I NEED FUEL TO FINISH THIS YEAR WITH GOOD GRADES AND NEW UPDATES!**

* * *

There, around the center of Konoha mall, were two totally different shops. One was a florist shop and the other was a tattoo shop. The owner of the florist shop, Sasuke Uchiha, was known to have grown the best flowers and put together the best and prettiest bouquets for any occasion. He was one of the best in Konoha. The next door owner, Naruto Uzumaki, was also known as one of the best in Konoha but for designing tattoos. He knew just what his customers wanted and made them even better.

Even when the customers didn't know what they wanted, he would talk to them and have small chats to get to know them so he could design a tattoo in his head based on their personality. He was an excellent artist and the most well known tattoo artist in the city. Most of the designs he does are created for his specific regulars but is always willing to design new creations for any customer. These two owners didn't exactly seem like the best match but got along fairly well, despite their differences in interests and professions. The owners of the shops also got along with their employees, customers, and the owners of the other shops in the mall.

Every once in a while they would become very competitive, especially during the periods of time before meetings with other owners as to who did the best with their sales those past 3 months. Every other month or so, they would just keep business as usual and talk while eating during their lunch breaks and after work. But one day was totally different from their usual routine.

* * *

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto called out as he entered the flower shop. He wore a simple white wife beater and jeans that hung low on his hips but hugged his ass just right. A simple silver chain hung from his neck. Several tattoos covered his arms and torso, one specific tattoo reached from the side of his neck and twisted around his left arm to the side of his wrist. A large expertly detailed nine tailed fox demon was tattooed on his right arm. The person at the register was not his raven-haired friend but a petite woman, maybe a year or two younger than him, with long blonde hair tied up into a ponytail with her long bangs hanging over one eye. She wore a dark purple tank top and skinny jeans under her dark blue apron that had the Uchiha Flower Shop insignia fan printed on it. She glanced up and saw Naruto's familiar face. She smiled.

"Wrong person. He's in the back. Go ahead." She pointed over her shoulder to the door that had a sign with "EMPLOYEES ONLY" printed on it.

"Thanks, Ino. See you." He waved before walking past her and pushed open the door. He looked around before locking his eyes on a figure with his back facing him, leaning over the table to grab a pen from the pencil holder sitting on the shelf in front of him. He couldn't seem to reach it even though he was standing on his toes. The blonde walked closer and leaned over the other man, using his greater height to grab the pen the raven was trying so hard to reach. The raven jumped as he felt a large hand place itself firmly against his side. Naruto laughed as as Sasuke glared/pouted at him.

"Sorry, man. I thought you needed help. I'll just put it back for you then if you don't want it." Naruto was just about to reach over and put the pen back where it was until his arm was pulled back by the sleeve, Sasuke plucking the pen from his hand. He sighed and cursed under his breath, mumbling something that sounded like "stupid height differences".

"Thanks." Sasuke sat down and started writing on a form that looked like a request for several bouquets of white roses.

"Who's getting married?" Naruto asked, looking over the paper. Sasuke sighed.

"One of my regulars' cousins. The main color is white but we don't usually sell a lot of those kinds of roses here. They take a long while to grow and the order was just placed this morning." The frustrated raven pinched the bridge of his nose.

"When's the wedding?" The blonde walked behind the obviously stressed raven and began slowly massaging his shoulders. Said raven leaned back against the chair, relaxing with the strong yet thin hands massaging the knots in his shoulders caused by the stress the order was forcing on him.

"October 10th. Now that I think about it, that's your birthday, right?" Naruto laughed.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you remembered it. If you're going to be busy on that day, we don't have to hang out. Hell, I could even help you out if there's somethin' I could do for you." Sasuke shook his head, closing his eyes.

"Of course I remember it. We've been best friends for like, 5 years now. Ever since our shops opened here. And I haven't missed a single birthday since then and I don't plan on missing it this year. I also wouldn't want to give you any work on your birthday so that's a no to your offer."

"Nah, man. Let me help. At least then, we could still hang out even if it's setting up flowers for this lady's wedding. And wouldn't 4 months be long enough for you to grow all those flowers?" Sasuke sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time since Naruto came in.

"I guess that would be ok. And to grow the perfect whit roses at the amount she's asking for would take more than 4 months. Maybe around 6 or so. 5 if i have time."

"….Maybe I can help take care of the shop while you go take care of the flowers?" Naruto suggested as he moved up his hands to massage Sasuke's lean neck, said raven leaning his head onto one of the blonde's hands.

"I doubt you know all the different kinds of flowers and shades of colors and what the names of all the bouquets are. There are also certain terms people that are really into gardening use. And asking you to help with the garden instead is not an option, since the only plant you have at home is a small cactus."

"I'll have Ino help me out."

"She's not here everyday."

"Then give me a list of all the terms and names."

"Takes up too much time."

"Then work on the days that Ino isn't here. Or hire someone that is experienced as a temporary."

"Look, Naruto. I know you want to help but I just don't have anything I could ask you to do. Sorry." Sasuke opened his eyes and sat up. Naruto let go and moved over to lean on the table.

"How about a drink or two tomorrow night? To help you relax." Sasuke thought about it for a minute before nodding.

"That would be okay, as long as you pay for them." Naruto laughed and started making his way out.

"Sure thing, Sasu. I'll see you tomorrow then. Meet me at my shop after you close up." Sasuke waved over his shoulder and started writing out the orders again.

Naruto waved to Ino and left the shop to go back to his own and help out Kiba, who was probably bored as hell sitting at the register with no one to talk to.

* * *

After finishing up work and saying good bye to Sasuke once they finished locking up their shop, Naruto made his way to his car. Once he sat down and closed the door, he leaned over and let his head land on the steering wheel. He sighed before fiddling with his car keys. For some reason, he was more exhausted then usual. Work was slow and no one caused him any stress except maybe his rent. The landlord was always hounding him for his week late rent, even though Naruto promised to pay this week...

SHIT, THE RENT. Naruto quickly put in his keys and started the car before driving off from the Konoha parking lot to his apartment 30 minutes away. Once he ran up to his apartment and gathered the money he needed to pay off his rent, he went downstairs to deliver it to the landlord.

"I swear, blondie, one day your bad habits will cost you way more than the rent." Anko, the landlord, sighed and counted the money. "Anyway, thank you and be sure to pay your rent next month ON TIME." And with that, Anko shooed him out and shut the door.

After getting back to his apartment, Naruto hung up his coat and turned on the TV, ready for a night of relaxation and sleep, since tomorrow was his day off. After filling up Kyuubi's (his pet fox) bowl with food and giving him some water, he went to his room, changed into just a black pair of sweatpants, went to the kitchen to make some ramen, and plopped himself onto the couch, the bowl in hand. Nothing interesting was on the telly so he just kept on changing channels while eating. After eating and drinking, Kyuubi walked over and jumped onto the couch, snuggling against his owner's side.

Naruto placed his now empty bowl on the coffee table and started to pet Kyuubi's beautiful orange fur until the little one closed his eyes and took a nap. Since it was only 9:30, Naruto decided to turn off the telly, pick Kyuubi up and go to bed. After brushing his teeth, he relieved himself and got into bed, hugged Kyuubi to his chest, and closed his eyes.


	2. New Temp

Something didn't feel right. As if something or someone had just entered his personal territory. not that he minded, of course. It could possibly be a new customer but this feeling grew stronger. His employee and cousin, Karin Uzumaki, was drinking tea cal my as she leaned over the counter, filled with different frames of tattoo designs arranged by prices and boxes of piercings which were organized neatly by their shape and size. He knew this feeling was way weirder than normal and he would usually ignore it. A small crack was heard and then tea started spilling from the now broken cup that Karin held. A bad omen of some sort confirmed his suspicions of something unusual happening today. As he was helping clean up the mess, he saw a petite pink-haired woman, clad in a white shirt, green cardigan, short pink skirt, and silver flats walk by with a paper in her hand. As she walked by the shop, she glanced over at him and grimaced, disgusted by all the "vulgar" tattoos and piercings displayed.

"Huh….bitch." Naruto glared and went back to cleaning up. Karin thanked him and asked if she could start her break early to get cleaned up, a new cup of tea and maybe a snack. After letting her take her break, he decided to close up shop for a couple minutes to see how Sasuke was doing. Business seemed a little slow today so he wasn't too worried about spending a little extra time away. karin had a key so she could just open the doors.

He walked over and waved to Ino. who waved back, before walking past the counter and into the back room. He suddenly stood still, shocked that the same girl that had walked past his shop 5 minutes ago was sitting next to Sasuke, obviously trying to catch her attention by twirling her hair and trying to pull what she thought was a seductive face that instead made her look constipated. Naruto almost laughed when he saw that Sasuke wasn't paying any attention to her, instead looking at a piece of paperer in front of him, looking over what seemed like an application form. WAIT, AN APPLICATION FORM?!

"H-hey, Sasuke? You busy or should I come back later?" Both Sasuke and the girl looked up. While the girl was shocked, Sasuke was calm and collected like always.

"It's fine, Naruto. You could stay here, but let me finish this meeting and I'll be right with you . See if Ino needs help with something." Sasuke shooed him away before going back to looking over the form. The girl smirked at him before going back to her terrible flirting.

"Man, I haven't even met her but I already know I'm gonna hate that bitch." Naruto mumbled as he walked out the back room doors.

"Hey, Naruto. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that they were in the middle of a meeting." I no sighed. Naruto smiled.

"It's fine , Ino. I would've gotten kicked out either way. Who is that girl, anyway?" Naruto pointed over his shoulder to the back room doors.

"The new temporary and an old acquaintance of mine. Sasuke's obviously been stressed lately with the wedding order and so he apparently took your advice and put up a help wanted sign in front of the shop and some posters around the mall." Ino explained as she picked up some flower pots from under the counter to tag prices on them.

"She's a bitch. She passed by my shop a couple minutes ago and just looked as if my shop sold dog shit."

"She's a slut too. I've known her since we were in middle school and she used to bully the other girls and seduce guys into sleeping with her. And I can tell that Sasuke's her new target, judging by the googoo eyes she's been making at him." Ino rolled her eyes as Naruto growled.

"I walked in on them and saw her trying to flirt with Sasuke. God, she's terrible. She looked as if she was trying to pull out her hair and looked constipated." Ino laughed and just as she was about to make another remark, Sasuke and the bitch walked out.

"So make sure you learn this list of the prices for all the different flowers and bouquets. This list has everything you need for the next four months." Sauske handed her the list.

"Thanks, Mr. Uchiha. I can't wait until next week. See you soon!" The girl said as she sashayed out of the shop, but not before glaring at Ino and Naruto and flipping her hair off her shoulder like a diva.

"So you're willing to hire a stranger to help out during your time of stress when your best friend offered to help just yesterday? That's cold, Sasuke. Even for you." Naruto pouted while Ino snickered.

"I would've most definitely been happy to ask you to help, I know you wouldn't be able to memorize such a long list in such a shout time." Sasuke sighed.

"It just turned colder."

"Is that even possible?" Ino remarked sarcastically and laughed.

"I might've been able to if you had just let me try." Naruto whined while Sasuke sighed.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I just can't afford anyone trying at the moment. Look, let's go to Starbucks downstairs and I'll get you a drink." Sasuke suggested. Naruto instantly perked up and laughed.

"A grande double chocolaté-chip frapped sounds good right about now!"

"Oh, get me a Vanilla Bean!" Ino yelled as she put all the tagged pots into a box before putting them back under the counter, scaring some of the customers. "Mkay!" Naruto yelled back before following Sasuke out the door and onto the escalator.

"Am I still coming over after work tonight for a drink?" Sasuke asked as they were moving down.

"Course, Sasu. Ya know, you're always welcome to come over. Kyuubi misses you too."

Kyuubi is Naruto's pet fox that likes to hang around and just eat and sleep. He's not usually fond of strangers but instantly took a liking to Sasuke the first time he cam ever. Kyuubi has dark red orange fur with white tipped ears and tail. He's fairly sweet and cuddly but can be dangerous when he wants to. Naruto almost giggled at how Kyuubi would react if the bitch ever went near him. He would tear her to shreds. Naruto wouldn't mind that happening anytime soon. Hopefully Bring your Pet to Work Day comes around soon.

"Yeah, thanks. I miss the little guy too." Sasuke walked up to the surprisingly short line of the Starbucks that stood in the middle of the food court. After ordering and getting their drinks, Naruto paying for Ino's, they sat down at one of the tables set up in front of the Starbucks.

For some reason, Sasuke seemed a bit….nervous. He was blushing while drinking his passion fruit iced tea, and whenever Naruto glances at him, he notices and smiles back. Naruto smiles back, of course, but the mood quickly dropped from casual to awkward.

"S-so Sasuke… who's the new girl?" Naruto asked, breaking the awkward tension between them.

"H-hm? Oh, Sakura Haruno. She came in today to talk about her application. She seems sweet and smart, but according to Ino, who knew her a long while back, she's supposed to be very aggressive and impatient. I had to confirm that claim so I initiated a meeting with her since I did not want any complaints from customers about her attitude and short temper. I only asked her to take care of the register and cleaning up, while Ino takes care of the orders and flower bouquets…" Sasuke continued to explain and drink his tea but wouldn't look at Naruto in the eye.

"Well, if it was only to do small things like that, I would've gladly helped out. My shop's doing well with Kiba, Karin, and Pein, so I can afford some time off." Naruto raised his eyebrow as Sasuke's face seemed to flush harder.

"Yeah…I'm sorry, I was also worried about your job too, but if you had told me that earlier, I would've taken up on your offer…"

"I can't do anything about it now though, with that pinky around so I'll just stick around sometimes in case anything goes wrong. She looks smart and sophisticated but can probably end up like one of those clumsy idiotic types." The blonde stood up and threw his empty cup towards the trash can, grinning as he saw it go in.

"Says you." Sasuke smirked.

"Shut up, man. Let's get going." Naruto grabbed ion's drink and waited as Sasuke pushed in his chair. Once they got back to Sasuke's shop and naruto gave the drink to Ino, he waved and left for his own shop, wondering what was up with Sasuke and why he was being unusually nervous all of a sudden.

After closing up his shop, the raven haired owner walked over to Naruto's shop. Naruto's shop looked like one of those parlors you usually see on the streets, except maybe a little more organized. The dim red lights lit up the whole shop and all different kinds of tattoo designs drawn on thick paper were hung around the store. Shelves wee filled with boxes of piercings and hair dyes.

There were also charts of colors and their designated names and charts with the different names of piercings and a large picture of a person with the piercing names labeling where each one was supposed to be. There were two empty metal benches lined under some of the shelves on the wall to Sasuke's right. On his left were the two charts hanging on the wall, and right in front of him was Karin sitting in front of the counter that contained most of the expensive piercings.

He waved to Karin, who waved back then went back to flipping through her magazine. Right behind Karin was a hallway that cosseted of the several booths that were used for giving tattoos and piercings. He made his way past the black curtain and continued down the hall until he reached Naruto's office in the back. He knocked on the door and walked in after hearing a small 'Come in.'

Naruto's black wooden desk had papers scattered all over it and there were boxes surrounding his desk that were filled with different colors of hair dye. Naruto's office was overall pretty neat and organized. The walls were painted an ultramarine blue and the floor was made of wooden planks painted black. He saw shelves full of customer files on Naruto's left organized alphabetically by last name. On Naruto's right was his drawing desk that had drawers filled with markers, colored pencils, pens, brush pens, pencils of all kinds of sizes, rulers, and was a neat stack of blank paper on a separate table right next to the drawing desk.

"Hey, Naru. Let's go, it looks cold out there. I saw people with snow all over their coats." naruto nodded as he finished polishing the last piercing before placing it in its respective box and putting it in one of the glass cases lining his drawers full of customer's files. The blonde grabbed his coat and scarf hanging on the wall hook near the door and followed Sasuke out of his office.

"Hey, Karin. It's time to go." Naruto said as they reached the counter. Karin was already locking up the register and turning off the light-up "OPEN" sign hanging in front of the window.

"Mkay." Karin responded as she grabbed her coat and put it on. Karin left as soon as Sasuke and Naruto walked out.. The blonde closed the doors and leaned down to lock them up. Sasuke blushed as the blonde leaned down. He took a small glance towards Naruto's ass, but turned away before Naruto could catch him in the act.

"Let's go." Naruto and Sasuke walked out of the mall and reached Naruto's car.


End file.
